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Cynthia Lewis, Literacy practices as social acts: Power, status, and cultural norms in the classroom. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2001, Pp. xi, 213, Hb $59.95, Pb $24.95 US.; Ludo Verhoeven & Catherine Snow (eds.), Literacy and motivation: Reading engagement in individuals and groups. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2001. Pp. 326, Pb $39.95 Hb $79.95 US.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 February 2004

Steve Bialostok
Affiliation:
Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, smb@uwyo.edu

Extract

Literacy practices as social acts and Literacy and motivation share an interest in the question of what engages children in reading. Both are relevant to our political times, when the federal government micromanages literacy education in schools. The U.S. federal initiative “No Child Left Behind” gave rise to the Reading First grants, and both are designed to “get kids reading at grade level.” Reading First ended up not including “motivation” as a rationale for funding. The government's preoccupation with phonics instruction has superseded the more important issue of what makes a child want (or not want) to read in the first place. Literacy and motivation is a useful corrective. However, Cynthia Lewis's Literacy practices as social acts really gets at the heart of the matter.

Type
BOOK REVIEW
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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References

REFERENCES

Geertz, Clifford (1983). Local knowledge: Further essays in interpretive anthropology. New York: Basic Books.
Snow, Catherine (1991). The theoretical basis for relationships between language and literacy in development, Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 6:510.Google Scholar